In recent years the early music movement, which advocates performing a work as it was performed at the time of its composition, has taken on the character of a crusade, particularly as it has moved beyond the sphere of medieval and baroque music and into music from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by composers such as Mozart and Beethoven. Granted, knowledge about the experience of playing old music on now-obsolete instruments has been of inestimable value to scholars. Nevertheless, the early music approach to performance raises profound and troubling questions.
Early music advocates assume that composers write only for the instruments available to them, but evidence suggests that composers of Beethoven’s stature imagined extraordinarily high and low notes as part of their compositions, even when they recognized that such notes could not be played on instruments available at the time. In the score of Beethoven’s first piano concerto, there is a “wrong” note, a high F-natural where the melody obviously calls for a high F-sharp, but pianos did not have this high an F-sharp when Beethoven composed the concerto. Because Beethoven once expressed a desire to revise his early works to exploit the extended range of pianos that became available to him some years later, it seems likely that he would have played the F-sharp if given the opportunity. To use a piano exactly contemporary with the work’s composition would require playing a note that was probably frustrating for Beethoven himself to have had to play.
In addition, early music advocates often inadvertently divorce music and its performance from the life of which they were, and are, a part. The discovery that Haydn’s and Mozart’s symphonies were conducted during their lifetimes by a pianist who played the chords to keep the orchestra together has given rise to early music recordings in which a piano can be heard obtrusively in the foreground, despite evidence indicating that the orchestral piano was virtually inaudible to audiences at eighteenth-century concerts and was dropped as musically unnecessary when a better way to beat time was found. And although in the early nineteenth century the first three movements (sections) of Mozart’s and Beethoven’s symphonies were often played faster, and the last movement slower, than today, this difference can readily be explained by the fact that at that time audiences applauded at the end of each movement, rather than withholding applause until the end of the entire work. As a result, musicians were not forced into extra brilliance in the finale in order to generate applause, as they are now. To restore the original tempo of these symphonies represents an irrational denial of the fact that our concepts of musical intensity and excitement have, quite simply, changed.
1. It can be inferred from the passage that by “a piano exactly contemporary” (Highlighted) with the composition of Beethoven’s first piano concerto, the author means the kind of piano that was(A) designed to be inaudible to the audience when used by conductors of orchestras
(B) incapable of playing the high F-natural that is in the score of Beethoven’s original version of the concerto
(C) unavailable to Mozart and Haydn
(D) incapable of playing the high F-sharp that the melody of the concerto calls for
(E) influential in Beethoven’s decision to revise his early compositions
2. Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?(A) The early music movement has yet to resolve a number of troubling questions regarding its approach to the performance of music.
(B) The early music movement, while largely successful in its approach to the performance of medieval and baroque music, has yet to justify its use of obsolete instruments in the performance of music by Beethoven and Mozart.
(C) The early music approach to performance often assumes that composers write music that is perfectly tailored to the limitations of the instruments on which it will be performed during their lifetimes.
(D) Although advocates of early music know much about the instruments used to perform music at the time it was composed, they lack information regarding how the style of such performances has changed since such music was written.
(E) The early music movement has not yet fully exploited the knowledge that it has gained from playing music on instruments available at the time such music was composed.
3. In the second paragraph, the author discusses Beethoven’s first piano concerto primarily in order to(A) illustrate how piano music began to change in response to the extended range of pianos that became available during Beethoven’s lifetime
(B) illustrate how Beethoven’s work failed to anticipate the changes in the design of instruments that were about to be made during his lifetime
(C) suggest that early music advocates commonly perform music using scores that do not reflect revisions made to the music years after it was originally composed
(D) illustrate how composers like Beethoven sometimes composed music that called for notes that could not be played on instruments that were currently available
(E) provide an example of a piano composition that is especially amenable to being played on pianos available at the time the music was composed
4. The author suggests that the final movements of symphonies by Mozart and Beethoven might be played more slowly by today’s orchestras if which one of the following were to occur?(A) orchestras were to use instruments no more advanced in design than those used by orchestras at the time Mozart and Beethoven composed their symphonies
(B) audiences were to return to the custom of applauding at the end of each movement of a symphony
(C) audiences were to reserve their most enthusiastic applause for the most brilliantly played finales
(D) conductors were to return to the practice of playing the chords on an orchestral piano to keep the orchestra together
(E) conductors were to conduct the symphonies in the manner in which Beethoven and Mozart had conducted them
5. Which one of the following best describes the organization of the last paragraph?(A) A generalization is made, evidence undermining it is presented, and a conclusion rejecting it is then drawn.
(B) A criticism is stated and then elaborated with two supporting examples.
(C) An assumption is identified and then evidence undermining its validity is presented.
(D) An assertion is made and evidence frequently provided in support of it is then critically evaluated.
(E) Two specific cases are presented and then a conclusion regarding their significance is drawn.
6. It can be inferred from the passage that the author’s explanation in lines (this difference can readily be explained by the fact that at that time audiences applauded at the end of each movement, rather than withholding applause until the end of the entire work.) would be most weakened if which one of the following were true?(A) Musicians who perform in modern orchestras generally receive more extensive training than did their nineteenth-century counterparts.
(B) Breaks between the movements of symphonies performed during the early nineteenth century often lasted longer than they do today because nineteenth-century musicians needed to retune their instruments between each movement.
(C) Early nineteenth-century orchestral musicians were generally as concerned with the audience’s response to their music as are the musicians who perform today in modern orchestras.
(D) Early nineteenth-century audiences applauded only perfunctorily after the first three movements of symphonies and conventionally withheld their most enthusiastic applause until the final movement was completed.
(E) Early nineteenth-century audiences were generally more knowledgeable about music than are their modern counterparts.
7. It can be inferred from the passage that the author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following assertions regarding the early music recordings mentioned in the third paragraph?(A) These recordings fail to recognize that the last movements of Haydn’s and Mozart’s symphonies were often played slower in the eighteenth century than they are played today.
(B) These recordings betray the influence of baroque musical styles on those early music advocates who have recently turned their attention to the music of Haydn and Mozart.
(C) By making audible the sound of an orchestral piano that was inaudible in eighteenth-century performances, these recordings attempt to achieve aesthetic integrity at the expense of historical authenticity.
(D) By making audible the sound of an orchestral piano that was inaudible in eighteenth-century performances, these recordings unwittingly create music that is unlike what eighteenth-century audiences heard.
(E) These recordings suggest that at least some advocates of early music recognize that concepts of musical intensity and excitement have changed since Haydn and Mozart composed their symphonies.
8. The author suggests that the modern audience’s tendency to withhold applause until the end of a symphony’s performance is primarily related to which one of the following?(A) the replacement of the orchestral piano as a method of keeping the orchestra together
(B) a gradual increase since the time of Mozart and Beethoven in audiences’ expectations regarding the ability of orchestral musicians
(C) a change since the early nineteenth century in audiences’ concepts of musical excitement and intensity
(D) a more sophisticated appreciation of the structural integrity of the symphony as a piece of music
(E) the tendency of orchestral musicians to employ their most brilliant effects in the early movements of symphonies composed by Mozart and Beethoven
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01 Apr 2019, 07:44
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